Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher

Up early and into a lovely big people mover with Julien behind the wheel. Lots of rain as we drove along the freeway but the skies cleared as we arrived at The Château de Chambord: What a great place it was. We started with a blacksmith demonstration and a smithy who was just brilliant at ramping up the crowds – very well done before going in to see the show horses with demonstrations of jousts, coronations and acrobats on the beautiful show horses. A lovely lunch followed and then we went for a horse drawn carriage ride for an hour through the woods and the forest, seeing a wild boar and deer. Im enjoyed his afternoon siesta during the ride.
We then went into the château created by Francis I in 1519 when he was 25 years old. The château was set up as a hunting lodge but Francis died before its completion and what we see today was put in place by his son and grandson (Henry II & Louis XIV). The château had a coach room, chapel, the King’s chambers, State apartment and the Queen’s apartment and a double-spiral staircase in the centre which wind independently of one another, all in an estate of 5540 acres – the same area as inner Paris.